Stolen Time
by Strata's Stargazer
Summary: A thief-for-hire and a Time Guardian? They're just too different... "Tell me why you're a thief." "Tell me why you joined Chronos." But in the end, they could have moments of stolen time. Rinslet x Jenos.


BlackCat – Stolen Time

**A/N:** Hello all! So…wrote this when I first made my way through Black Cat and fell in love with the Jenos/Rinslet pairing. I am not against Train/Rinslet, but Jenos … is just Jenos, no denial there.

Takes place roughly around the start of chapter 096 (or episode 14-15 I think), so after the attack on Creed's castle. I hope you enjoy, please leave a review!

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_Black Cat:_

_Stolen Time_

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sSSs_  
_

_- Stock Town NW Leadress Hotel -_

_How draining_, Rinslet thought, staring at the computer screen blankly. Sure, there was nothing wrong with doing background research – after all, a well informed thief was a safe thief – but sitting in front of a computer screen for hours was not something she enjoyed.

"All right, ten more minutes, then a shower, then room service!" she told herself, popping her neck before attacking the computer again.

No matter how much she complained, the fact that she actually had something to do again was a blessing. Until Train had been infected with the Apostle's "Lucifer" she had felt restless to do something, anything to keep her occupied so her thoughts wouldn't stray to where they had no right going.

"Bastard," she muttered before shaking her head. She had no reason to think about worthless jerk-offs that didn't even have the decency to call just to mention they're alive.

_There were no ties between us besides getting into Creed's place and finding Chronos information_, she reminded herself silently. And Chronos had held up their end of the deal – at least money wise – as one of her several back accounts was now overflowing with money, so she should be jumping for joy.

Instead, she was sleeping poorly and her thoughts tended to drift towards him.

_No ties. A thief-for-hire and a Time Guardian? We're just too different._

sSs

"Tell me why you're a thief."

"Tell me why you joined Chronos," Rinslet retaliated, not looking up from the dossier resting in her lap. The train caused her to sway in her seat, but after traveling for years on end she no longer actually felt the movement. It was going to be hours until they reached their destination and the fact she was forced to share a cabin with Jenos had not left her in a pleasant mood.

Hence, she retaliated to his annoying question with one she knew he wouldn't answer. Hopefully the thickheaded lug would realize she didn't want to answer.

"My sister."

Snapping her head up in surprise, Rinslet barely stopped the dossier from falling to floor as she stared at Jenos. The usual flirtatious smile she had gotten to know over the past few weeks of being constant companions was gone, replace by something smaller and rather bittersweet.

"Y-your sister?" she asked, wondering if she heard wrong. "Is she a Time Guardian too?"

"Ha, no. She died when I was thirteen," Jenos told her.

"Died? How?" She could never resist a good story, especially not one that was rife with information. Even if she knew the story would not be a happy one.

"She was murdered. The governor of the area where I grew up was corrupt and ran human trafficking of young girls from the area. They liked them young," Jenos told her and Rinslet suppressed a shiver.

"They do." She had run across several such operations over the years and it was never a good experience. The girls would be stolen from their homes, hidden in some hole in the middle of nowhere, and usually injected with drugs until they became addicted. With that in their systems, they would become willing to do anything for their next hit, even go as far as selling their bodies.

"She was abducted coming home after going to the birthday party of some friends. Three days later the police found her body next to the riverbank, all the signs pointing towards rape and murder," VII told her, now looking at the passing scenery rather than at her, the last trace of his ever present smile gone.

"The police "looked into it" of course, but couldn't ever find the guys. Three months later, Chronos appears, the governor is killed in the middle of the night as well as all of his associates, and a new one replaces him. I snooped around until I figured out what happened then went straight to Chronos and have been with them ever since. Figured they were better than the government and I could find a way to stop what happened to my family from occurring to other families as well."

"My father beat my mother," Rinslet blurted out, staring in surprise at Jenos when he finally turned to look at her. She hadn't wanted to tell him about her past, but somehow the words had come out. "He lost his job when I was eight, the factory was shut down. So he drank, and drank, then one day he would drink then start hitting my mother. She always made sure I was hidden when it started."

She could still remember her various hiding spots around the house she and her mother had found. Not all the smells were pleasant, but her mother had made her promise to stay hidden until her father would pass out before leaving those spots.

"The first time I stole, it was medicine to save her life," Rinslet told Jenos, staring down at her hands. "He had broken one of his bottles and slashed her a few times. It was the first time I learned how to do stitches, too, because we didn't have enough money to go to the hospital for treatment. Soon I started stealing food just so we could eat.

"When I was ten, I came home from school to find my mother laying in a puddle of blood and my father gone. She was cold, had been dead for more than three hours. While I was sitting next to her body, my father came home, still drunk. He gave me this scar," she told him, holding up her right arm so he could see the old and faded scar running down the length of her forearm, "with a bottle of whiskey. He then proceeded to beat me, saying I was the one who killed my mother. Eventually, I passed out and when I came too he was gone again. I left that night and started stealing just to survive and haven't stopped since."

"Why?"

"Because having money provides security," she told him honestly, shrugging casually. "It means I get to do what I want, when I want, without having to worry about someone else. Absolute freedom from everything and everyone."

"Freedom, huh?"

"From what Train's told me, Chronos doesn't give it lightly to its Time Guardians," Rinslet said, standing. "I'm going to go get something to eat."

sSs

They were fundamental opposites. She thrived by escaping the law, by making her own rules, while he existed in a world where orders were everything. She had seen that in the castle, when he had been just as willing as Beluga and Naizer to die just to stop Creed.

For all she knew, he had succeeded.

Looking down when her computer chimed, Rinslet watched as new pages of data started appearing on the screen, the last firewall torn down.

"I found it! Damn, I'm good!" she said, thinking she had even finished it before her ten minute deadline. Scanning the information on Dr. Lunatique, she blinked, pulled from the screen when someone knocked on the door.

"Room service!"

"Huh?" Standing up from the desk, she closed the computer before making her way to the door, figuring the hotel had made a mistake.

Opening the door, she found herself staring at a bouquet of white roses before looking up to see the grinning face of Jenos. One lame pick up, a solid right hook, and one rather evasive explanation later, Rinslet found herself staring at Jenos as he told her about Beluga's death.

_Anything for the cause_, she thought again, saddened by the loss of the large man though they had only met less than a week ago.

"So, why are you here?" she asked as they lulled into silence.

"Orders," he told her before standing and looking around. "Nice place. Did the money you get from Chronos set you up here?"

"I have other funds available to me," she told him before frowning. "Does Chronos want my help again? I told that chick that was the last job."

"Nah, I'm not here because of that."

"Oh."

"My, my, Rins, you sounded a little sad about that," Jenos teased, smirking over at her from behind the chair he had been sitting in. Glaring at him, Rinslet quickly left the chair, planting her fists on her hips as she glared at the man.

"I did not!" she protested, ignoring the part of her that _was _sad at the thought of this being her and Jenos' last time together.

"Oh, why don't you just come out and say it?" Jenos asked, causing Rinslet to stare at him in confusion. Uneasiness filled her when he smirked before closing the distance between them until she had to tilt her head back to keep eye contact with him. "You missed me!"

"Ha! As if I would miss you!" she said, laughing in denial. "My life has been peaceful since you disappeared off the face of the earth, just as I like it!"

"Hm…I thought you were a better liar than that," Jenos muttered, frowning down at her.

"What do you mean by that? I'm a great liar!"

"No, you lied about missing me," Jenos smirked. Growling in frustration, Rinslet let her right hook fly again only to blink in surprise when he caught it instead, his gaze never leaving her face. It was the first time since they had met he had actually stopped one of her blows, even though she had always known he had let them land rather than block them. "Come on, it's just three little teeny, tiny, words."

"What?" she yelped, staring up at him in surprise. There was no way she was saying _that _to him! How did he even...?

"Ah, a little misinterpretation that is rather telling," Jenos murmured, using her still captured wrist to pull her forward even as she fought against it. "I just wanted you to tell me you missed me, not those other three little words."

"Like you would get either."

"Wounded, right through the heart," Jenos bemoaned, placed her captured hand over his heart. Startled to feel the warmth of him through the purple silk shirt he wore, Rinslet felt her breath hitch in her throat before finding her face tilted up as Jenos kissed her softly.

"My, you act like it's our first," he chuckled softly as he pulled back just enough to break contact, though his hold on her didn't ease up.

"It was, idiot."

"Oh? Well, then let's get on to number two. It is always better than number one," he told her, removing the distance between their lips again.

Licorice, he tasted like licorice, she realized as her mouth slowly opened under his. He always smelled like licorice too, though it was a faint smell so it had taken her until she and Eve had gone into a candy shop to recognize it. As his tongue swept through her mouth, Rinslet sighed unconsciously as she tightened her hold on his shirt while her other hand reached up to grab his collar.

Maybe they didn't match, she decided as he pulled her towards the bed. A thief and a Time Guardian could never end up together, have no happily ever after.

But they could have moments of stolen time, where it didn't matter what they were.

"Hey, Rins," Jenos murmured as he nipped on her collarbone. "I missed you."

"Idiot," she whispered, but she couldn't keep the smile off her face as she said it.

sSSs

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**Ending A/N:** I figured this worked with both of Rinslet's history, both manga and anime versions. Anyways, I'm really hoping both were IC, even though I didn't plunge too deep into Jenos' psyche in this story.

This is where you leave to review. Please! XD

**Dislcaimer:** _Black Cat_ is property of Kentaro Yabuki. I just play around in their world.


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